Saturday, 31 March 2012

It's Saturday morning and I'm sat in bed with a cup of coffee, reading my Kindle, Hubby has gone to work and Paige is still asleep, it's all very quiet and peaceful with just the birds singing, bliss !!!!

I'm reading Summer on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber, it's a gentle, light-hearted read about a knitting class called "Knit to Quit" and the everyday lives of those who have joined. I'd would just love to live somewhere like Blossom Street, there's a cafe you can sit and catch up with friends, a book shop and a wool store called A Good Yarn, that's three of my favourite things.
This is just one book of a series set in Blossom Street , great books to read if you just want some easy reading while you are sat in the garden on a gorgeous, warm, sunny day or now the sun has gone, snuggled in front of the fire !!!!

Well March has been a good month, we've had some beautiful weather in the U.K. which I've made the most of, I've been to the city twice, I went to the Art Gallery to see DaVinci's drawings and today I'm going to see a show at the Old Joint Stock Theatre. Also had a great day at the Hobby Craft show at the N.E.C. with Maria and Binda, buying some gorgeous cashmere and merino yarn and more papercrafting stash, which I really didn't need !!!!

First Signs of Spring

I love these photo's of my niece Olivia drinking her cup of tea, when we were out shopping.

A walk along the canal.....then a bowl of chips sat outside the Navigation pub.

I received some Happy Mail from the lovely Nicki, her blog is called Homebird, I love to read about her latest fashion buys and her gorgeous cottage with some crochet, book reviews, gardening and homestyle thrown in. My daughter Paige and I would love to go shopping with her, she loves the same shops as us, she sounds so much fun, sometimes I laugh out loud at her blog posts.

The last week has been super warm for March and I made the most of it, sitting in my garden with a can of Diet Coke and my crochet, bliss !!!!

So that is a little snippet of my month, enjoy the weekend, whatever you are up too.

The sun is still shining here in the U.K., so as I'm in summer mode, I decided to use some bright summery colours.

I cut out a Spellbinder Nestabilitie Scalloped Circle in turquoise card and a circle in white. The hot air balloons from the IBS The Sky's the Limit were stamped onto Cosmo Cricket DeLovely papers and cut out, using foam pads to give some dimension.
I stitched around the edges and tied a large bow, lastly stamping the cloud and sentiment onto white card adding some lime pearls.

Monday, 26 March 2012

Hi there, I hope everybody had a great weekend, the gorgeous weather continued over the weekend in the the U.K. so I made the most of it, catching up with friends in the beer garden at the local pub. I even got a bit of colour on my face, not bad for March.
Have you seen the colours for challenge #50 over at CR84FN, aren't they beautiful ?

Here's my card using these gorgeous Spring colours.

I choose to use the Pink Paislee Spring Jubilee papers, which are just perfect for this colour challenge, the stamps and flowers are Inspired by Stamping.

Saturday, 24 March 2012

Hi there, I hope you are all enjoying your weekend, I can't believe I'm sat in my garden writing this, it is so warm and sunny here in the U.K, it doesn't happen very often in March but I'm making the most of it.
I haven't had much time this week for blog hopping but this morning I had a look over at The Shabby Tea Room and they have given us this fab photo for inspiration.Isn't it cute ?!!!!

As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to take part, I love bunting and it's also one of my favourite colour combo's. I needed to make a Get Well card for my sister who had her gall bladder removed on Thursday so this was perfect.

As I said bunting is one of my favourite embellishments and my SU Pennant punch fit the pennant paper from The Girls Paperie perfectly, saving on the cutting out. I stamped the dotty label from the IBS Fancy Label 4 stamp set in SU Real Red and the sentiment from IBS Small Fancy Label 4 in black. I stitched around the edges and zigzag stitched along the top of the bunting.I used foam pads under the bunting to give a bit of dimension.

I hope you are enjoying a bit of sunshine too, whereever you are, enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Don't forget to check out the brand new Inspired by Stamping Inspiration Challenge, you have until Tuesday to enter for the chance to win a great prize.
xxxxDebxxxx

Friday, 23 March 2012

Hello Everyone, I hope you've all had a good week and are ready for the weekend.The sun is shining here in the U.K., so hopefully Spring is here.
I've got some great news if like me you love challenge blogs, Joanna from Inspired by Stamping has started a new Stamping Inspiration Challenge. Weekly challenges will be posted each Thursday 2pm Australia Time/ 12am EST (America). All entries must be linked by midnight on Tuesday or 2pm EST. You can enter any type of project as long as you follow these few guidelines, there will be a weekly "Top 3 Inspiration" and "Inspired by Stamping Winner" then a monthly winner who will be asked to Guest Design.As it's the first IBSIC challenge, one lucky person will win a a stamp set from the Inspired by Stamping shop and the second winner will receive two packages of flowers of their choice.

This week is all about color and flowers! Please create something with the inspiring colors shown above and some flowers!

Here is my card inspired from this pretty photo.

Yesterday was the Hobbycraft show at the N.E.C. and I bought this Marianne basket die and some Pan Pastels which I have blended onto the text paper. I think I'll be using them a lot, they are so versatile and give a lovely soft colour . The flowers are from the IBS shop and the Happy Birthday is from the Big Wishes set. I hope you will join in the fun and I'd love it if you could all support Joanna's new Inspiration Challenge.

While I was looking at the PanPastels a lovely couple approached me and gave me their business card with a challenge blog called PanPastel UK Challenge Blog, when I got home I had a look at their blog and saw that their challenge this week was to Add a Flower so I'm entering this card.

As I said earlier the sun is shining so Paige and I took my niece Olivia for a walk along the canal and stopped for a drink and bowl of fries at the pub. The poor little thing isn't very well and missing her Mommy, who is in hospital after having surgery so this cheered her up a bit.

Thanks for looking, have a great weekend and hope the sun shines wherever you are.

Monday, 19 March 2012

Hello, I hope you all had a good weekend, I've been doing a bit of crochet and used the leftover yarn from the wash cloths

I didn't have much yarn but waste not, want not. I saw the bibs in the Cute & Easy Crochet book by Nicki Trench and because you don't need much yarn for each stripe, I managed to make 3 bibs from the leftovers, they are very cute, perfect for newborns.
Yesterday was Mothers Day in the U.K. so I hope all you mummy's out there had a wonderful day and was spoilt rotten. My lovely daughters bought me this gorgeous chest with more goodies inside.

Inside was a beautiful perfume bottle and notebook, also the great retro tin with chocolates. I had a lovely lazy day, I watched The Help, great film and did some crochet. Also I've got the new app for my Ipad called Draw Something (like Pictionary), so even though Jodie couldn't get back from Uni, I was playing this game with her, isn't technology great.
Thanks for looking and for all the lovely comments you take the time to write, I really do appreciate each and every one. Also thanks for all the comments about my blog makeover, glad you all like it.

Friday, 16 March 2012

The sixth prompt over at Jingle Belles is Neutral Noel and the ladies have given us this beautiful photo as inspiration of Pottery Barn Holiday cushions. The snowflake cushion caught my eye straight away so that was my inspiration for my card.

I stamped two different sized snowflakes from the Inspired by Stamping Winter Wonderland stamp set in SU Crumb Cake and diecut them. I then diecut a Nestabilities label to mat the snowflake and stitched around the paper, adding some lace and buttons.

My pile of Christmas cards are growing, I'll hopefully have them all made by the end of November, no last minute panic like I usually do.
Thanks for looking, have a great weekend and I'll be back soon to show you what I've been crocheting with the leftover yarn from the wash cloths.

Wednesday, 14 March 2012

Hello Lovelies, I hope you are all having a good week, over the weekend I was going through my yarn and discovered I'd got some Sirdar Sublime baby cotton kapok dk but only one ball of each colour. I decided to use these odd balls up and started looking through my crochet patterns.

So the answer to my question "what do you do with one ball of yarn?" is make crocheted Wash Cloths, pretty and practical, also it would make a great gift.

The pattern is from Cute & Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench, I just added an extra row around the edge of, ch2, miss1dc,1dc, it gives a pretty scalloped edge.

They've been tried and tested by Paige, she has been using them to wash her face and said they feel so much softer and nicer to use than a traditional face flannel. I'd love to know what you do with your leftover wool !!!!

Also over the weekend my friend Kerry and I went to Birmingham Art Gallery to see 10 Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, they are travelling to 5 museums around the U.K. in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It was fascinating and well worth a visit if they are coming near you.

We were going to a restaurant for lunch but it was such a beautiful spring day that we went to McDonalds and sat in Victoria Square to eat, it was bustling, I think everybody else had the same idea. They have a giant T.V. in the square for everyone to watch sporting events, this is my favourite part of Birmingham, it has such a nice buzz.We couldn't go to the city and not pop into the House of Fraser haberdashery department, I bought some gorgeous Amy Butler Belle Organic Aran and some Rowan Cashsoft.

That's it for now, thanks for looking, I've still got some of the Sublime yarn left so will find another pattern to use up the rest, so watch this space !!!!

Friday, 9 March 2012

Hi, how is everybody today? I'm back with Day 2 of Inspired by Stamping sneak peeks and more projects that I've created using the new stamp sets and flowers.

My first project is a little Easter basket with the Easter stamp set,I haven't filled it yet as if I buy the chocolate eggs now, I'd eat them before Easter !!!!

The basket was made by cutting four Sizzix Scallop Envelope dies in kraft card and four in paper to line the inside, gluing together to form a basket.I dry painted the kraft to give a shabby look and made the handle by punching along a strip of kraft and adding some lace. I stamped the frame with SU Bashful Blue, adding a couple of the new flowers.

The last card is a Christmas card using the Easter Blessings set, you don't have to use these stamps just for Easter, the Rejoice can be used for Christmas, the cross could be used for Christenings, Baptisms, Confirmations even wedding invitations.

I stamped the Rejoice in Versamark and heat embossed with red embossing powder adding some satin ribbon.

I hope you are all enjoying the sneak peeks, please check out what the rest of the DT have done for more inspiration. Also, there is some more BLOG CANDYto give away today, take a look here for a chance to win.